THE DEBAUCHED TOO:

Base yet to unify behind Kerry (Donald Lambro, June 1, 2004, THE WASHINGTON TIMES)

Democrats say they are more unified than ever in their determination to beat President Bush, but there have been desertions in the party's ranks by antiwar activists who back independent candidate Ralph Nader and grumblings from blacks and Hispanics who say Sen. John Kerry has taken them for granted.

The Democrats' troubles with an often-contentious political base do not end there. Most polls show that at least 12 percent of all registered Democratic voters say they will vote for Mr. Bush, twice the number of Republicans who intend to vote for Mr. Kerry. [...]

"There are Democrats who are upset with Kerry over his position on the war. You can see that Kerry is aware of that as well," said Kevin Zeese, spokesman for the Nader campaign.

"We met with him and his staff last week and noticed afterwards that his staff said that Iraq was not discussed, when of course it was," Mr. Zeese said. "What I make of that is that he is very insecure about the issue because he wants the peace vote and the war vote."

It is simply untrue that the base are not united in support of John Kerry.

Posted by Orrin Judd at June 1, 2004 10:58 AM